My friend, may I ask you a question? Some of us are moody on a regular, almost predictable basis. Others are blessed with the unpredictable mood; the one that for whatever reason lands like a ton of bricks on us and sticks around like an uninvited guest. Whatever the case, is moodiness something we all struggle with from time to time?
My friend, life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.
I’m M. Clifford Brunner.
"Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don’t;" just another one of those advertising jingles that has bored its way deep into my subconscious. As innocent as many of these little ditties might seem (and as irritating as they might be to my family since I know hundreds of them), they do come in handy from time to time. And, here's why. Most of us have moods. Some are moody on a regular, almost predictable basis. Others are blessed with the unpredictable mood; the one that for whatever reason lands like a ton of bricks on us and sticks around like an uninvited guest. Whatever the case, moodiness is something we all struggle with from time to time. That’s when this little jingle comes to mind. "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't!" Those who know me know that I often recite, okay, sing this little ditty when I'm confronted with someone's unexpected mood. It's just my way of on the one hand identifying the mood and, on the other, trying to pry it out and, perhaps, put help it go away.
Moods put us inside of ourselves. They capture our emotions and hold them hostage so that no one else might enter into our little world until the mood leaves and we open up again. Not only is this sad from a personal perspective (since we miss so much going on around us when we have holed up inside of ourselves), it is also sad from a community perspective. When we're inside of ourselves, we aren't able to touch others around us. It is hard to appreciate those we love when we have closed the doors of our hearts to everyone but ourselves. Joylessness inevitably leads to selfishness and an inability to see the good in others. When we are joyless, we're not able to praise anyone or anything. While it is okay to not always "feel like a nut," it isn't good to go on a "nut" restricted diet. The motivational writer and Christian author, C.S. Lewis wrote: "To praise God fully we must be in perfect love with God, drowned in, and dissolved by that delight that flows out from us in effortless and perfect praise. Our joy can't be separated from our moods and our moods can't be separated from our joy. Loving God results in loving man. Loving man, therefore, casts our moods into a perfect place; a place where God's love causes our love to be perfected.” (C.S. Lewis.)
When we remain “in love” with our God, we can’t help but give Him the praise that dwells within us, that which can’t be contained. It's this same love that, well, makes us "feel like a nut," giving us the ability to fight off the "times that we don’t." Those God has put in our lives, the people that we love, are depending on us to touch them with our "nuttiness" every now and then. As praise is contagious, it only takes one "nut" to start it and everyone benefits.
We pray. Heavenly Father, when we remain “in love” with You, we can’t help but give You the praise which dwells within us, that which can’t be contained. It's this same love Lord, which makes us "feel like a nut," giving us the ability to fight off the "times that we don’t." Those You have put in our lives, the people that we love, are depending on us to touch them with our "nuttiness" every now and then. Forgive us when we keep our moods to ourselves and don’t strive to turn them into praise. As praise is contagious, it only takes one "nut" to start it and everyone benefits. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
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<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.